Utility companies frequently encounter problems with the collection of bills and the theft of electricity. In order to overcome these problems, various proposals have been made, none of which has proven effective up to the present time. For example, one system for the prepayment of electrical power is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,637, granted Dec. 11, 1973. This patent discloses the use of a prepayment chip which is inserted into a receptacle in order to enable a measured quantity of electricity to be supplied to the user. An alarm system is activated in advance of the discontinuation of service which occurs when the measured amount of power is used up. A fuse in each chip is melted for the purpose of precluding reuse of the chip. It has also been proposed that a utility meter unit be supplied with a stack of bills. At the end of each month, the meter unit would print and dispense a bill for mailing by the customer to the utility company along with a check for the indicated amount.
Systems of the type described above have been rather crude and thus have not been well received. Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved electric utility meter unit which facilitates payment collection and has increased security.